Isn’t it time for a general amnesty for jihadis?

Published : 22 March 2017, 12:52 PM
Updated : 22 March 2017, 12:52 PM

Bangladesh has achieved considerable success in tracking down and neutralising Islamist radicals since last year's July 1 Holey Artisan Bakery terror strike.

Even US counter-terrorism officials have expressed appreciation at the dogged determination with which Bangladesh police and security forces have pursued the leads.

A large number of those leading the jihadi groups, like the Neo-JMB and Ansarullah Bangla Team, have been eliminated or arrested.

Just when it looked like Bangladesh was achieving much by police action, it has been hit by a new phenomenon — suicide attacks including suicide bombings.

Not that these attempted attacks have caused much casualty because they were poorly executed .

In all the cases, the militants have been blown apart.

But that some of these have been in quick succession — two cases during the Sitakunda raid and two successive attempts within two days after the Sitakunda siege — raise concerns.

That itself — and also that some women have resorted to using improvised suicide vests to blow themselves up — should worry those who run Bangladesh's security machine.

The security czars may be right claiming there is no ISIS in the country — but they would be wrong to undermine the enormous impact of the Middle Eastern terror group on impressionable minds in Bangladesh.

If these young men and women, some educated in expensive private universities, can be indoctrinated to the extent they are prepared to die gory deaths for a cause they rightly or wrongly believe in — that should shake up the security czars from slumber.

To imagine that Bengalis are not Arabs and cannot produce suicide bombers would be a huge mistake.

Bengalis can go to any extent for a cause they believe in.

Pritilata Waddedar of Chittagong would surely be the first women suicide attacker of this sub-continent when she consumed cyanide after the attack on the European Clun to avoid arrest and torture that might lead to disclosures.

Benoy Bose, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta of Dhaka , who stormed the Writers Building knowing they would not come out unscathed, would surely be the first male suicide attackers, following the footsteps of the brave Pritilata.

These brave souls were from the same soil that is today producing the jihadis who have set off their suicide vests in Sitakunda, Khilgaon or Ashkona.

Indian general JFR Jacob, who planned the military campaign leading to the ultimate liberation of Bangladesh, once told me of an argument he had with other Indian generals in mid-1971.

These generals pointed to the poor tactical skill of the Muktijoddhas, but Jacob told them that since these boys were not afraid of death and kept up the attacks despite huge casualties, Bangladesh would soon be free.

The British denigrated the Bengalis and said we were not a martial race.

We are perhaps not — like the Gorkhas of Nepal, the Punjabis, Rajputs or the Afghans.

But from the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Bengali has demonstrated a capacity for armed action and for supreme sacrifice if it was for a cause he or she believed in.

The 1971 freedom struggle or the Naxalite rebellion in West Bengal is replete with tales of heroism.

Now, some may point out it is not correct to compare a Pritilata with a jihadi — a freedom fighter with a jongi as a Facebook friend from Bangladesh pointed out to be me this week.

I am not trying to compare causes — just pointing to the high level of motivation.

The Holey Artisan Cafe attackers, if they wanted to live to fight another day, could have slipped out (or at least tried to) after they had made their point on the night of July 1.

Against a commando raid, they stood no chance with their AK-22 rifles.

So, without applauding their 'shahadat', I would only argue that something more than police action is needed to arrest the process of radicalisation.

That is as urgent a need as chasing down the jihadis or exposing their political backers.

At the end of the day, however misguided, a Rohan Imtiaz or a Nibras Islam is somebody's boy , a Bengali boy who went wrong.

Once he has killed people in Holey Artisan, the soldiers don't have a choice but to eliminate him in confrontation.

But the state, if it is mature and farsighted , should look at strategies to avoid a Rohan or Nibras ending up a jihadi.

Bangladesh has been trying to develop counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation strategies that even involves controlling sermons in mosques.

Police action and de-radicalisation/ counter-radicalisation strategies are welcome.

The more sophisticated they are, the better the chance to handle the problem.

But there is a third element in the strategy to combat terror — pacification by pardon.

Security hawks don't like it . Politicians may come under attack for trying it . But this often works.

It may be time Bangladesh considers a general amnesty for those in the jihadi ranks.

Obviously, I am not suggesting letting off those proven guilty of serious crimes like murder or bombings.

There is no question of letting off a Mufti Hannan.

But a general amnesty could surely be announced for those members of the Neo-JMB/ABT/ HUJI/ Ansar al-Islam cells who have not committed a crime so far or joined a terror attack.

The message of such an amnesty could be well packaged through the media — especially through the Internet — so that it reaches the target audience.

Such a move will provide the state with the opportunity to have its message reach the misguided youths through an effective counter-narrative, create confusion in the jihadi ranks, help segregate the less from the more radicalised and surely lead to some surrenders with the consequent benefits of critical operational information.

As someone said, peace is often an instrument of war.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has described the intensification of terror attacks as a possible impediment for holding the next parliament elections.

The problem is much more than that.

The war against terror is no good guy versus bad guy Western film script that the Bush administration drafted for the world.

It is a battle for the soul of a nation, a nation like Bangladesh born of 'an ocean of blood' (Ek Sagor Rakter Binimoye).

Religion is a weak glue for developing and holding together a nation state.

That is why religious radicalism is more violent  — it takes much violence to get support for groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS .

The Christian powers fought two World Wars, the Middle East is as much about Arab-Israeli conflict as about the chasms in the Islamic world, some reinforced by historical divides between nationalities.

It is not just the Shia-Sunni divide but the history of conflict between Arabs and Persians that pits the Iranians against the Saudis in a bitter contest for regional domination.

The appeal of an 'Hindu Rashtra' does not cross the Vindhyas, its appeal down south or in Bengal largely limited.

An Islamic Bangladesh, one that resembles Pakistan, would be a contradiction in terms. It will go against the spirit of Bengal's syncretic traditions.

Lack of popular acceptance of a radical credo forces the jihadi to go after the Baul singers, the secular bloggers, writers, publishers and intellectuals.

A Rohan Imtiaz or a Nibras Islam may be hardened enough to fight to death but there is no reason to believe all the recruits are equally radicalised.

The amnesty offer, followed by extensive deradicalisation, should be targeted at the less radicalised — the initial recruit, the doubting Thomases.

The message needs to be more sophisticated than the usual political party propaganda. It should be well grounded in the faith but it should primarily seek to work up secular Bengali pride.